Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/141059
SPEE~WAY: More Than "Just Racing b y Bu zz Bat y Sp eedway is a h ap p en in g, it 's fee ling - sight - soun d - sme ll, it's a full- bl own emo ti on al orgasm, that thousan d s of fans in th e stands go throu gh twe n ty- th ree times a n igh t. , T he fan s ca me in dro ves to the season o pe ner . T hey ca me in su ch numbers that promoter H arry O xle y h ad to sh ut d own the ticket bo oths with an es timate d one thous and s fans stilI in lin e , wanting, in vain, to be a part of thi s to tal ex pe rience tha t is Speedway R acing. It ' s a m atch race b etwe en die " Valen tin o " o f Speedway , Speedw ay . Sonn y N utter and " Wild " Bill C ody . S onny looping h is scoot off th e lin e to th e ear-sp li tting roar o f five th ousand plus fans. Sp eedway raci ng is Les Ch an ky bending a fr on t wh eel in a first lap three rider spill, th en with the c ro wd roar reachin g an ea r sp litting level , Li tt le L es an d hi s wren ch ge tt ing a n ew wh e el on, in time for the restar t. It's D ave Galvin le adi ng the Handic ap Main all the way . T h en with th ree-fo ur ths of a lap to go , h avin g h is chain bust under p ower, d amn ne ar p utting him into. th e wall , an d w atching D on Cullum go by for the win. Wh en S onny N u tter is introduced, the fans re sp ond with a fre n zy o f holl er s, ye lls , wh istl es, an d cl appin g that yo u h ave to ex perience to app reciate. T hen, whe n S onny wins th e S crat ch C on solation, the so und from th e stands is unreal . It's fin d ing guys like Jim Sc ott, a firs t ye ar th ird di vision /rider, yo u've kn own for tw o y ears . A fin e m oto cross Expert, ge tting full bore in to th e sup erc harge d sp eedway sce ne . At Costa Mesa. Division Two riders experiment with d ifferent lines . . N g> e, M .... '" . CD > :;: '" ;: w Z W ...J U > U It's here , it's now , and man, it 's real. As I said be fore , twe n ty-three tim es or eve ry fo ur, mi nu te s, you experienc e ano ther h e ar t stoppi ng start an d spine tingling fin ish . Irwindale to Bakersfield, This'Was the Week That Was in Speedway b y Dennis Green e T h is will b e a new fea tu re th at will .be in Cycl e Ne ws durin g th e Sp eedway season. I t will in c ap su le form cover all the Cl ass A even ts in the Southern C alifornia area an d give a ru n d own of wh o w as the t op money win ner of the p ast week an d a ph oto lo ok at wh a t th e ~ actio n w as lik e . Wh en yo u try to tell y our frie n ds ab o u t Speedway and h ow fast it is growing you mi gh t tak e a look at thi s p ast wee k in Cl ass A racing. Irwindal e Ra cewa y ope ne d on th e 26 th of April for the sta r t of the ir sec o n d year of promo t ing Speedway events. Durin g t he four m on ths th a t th e trac k wa s close d d own for th e winter , th e promoter adde d several m o re sets of grandstand s, n ew food a nd d rink stands, an d a d o zen m ore sanitary facilities. A ll th is to add to th e c om fo r t of t he race fans . A reco rd turn ou t for o pe n ing nigh t was a good te st fo r all th e n ew improvemen 15. Irwindale is th e la rgest of all th e Sp ee dw ay tracks cu rren tly runnin g. This trac k has a sh ap e m o re like the letter D , or an egg, than an o val. This makes fo r a go od sh ow with some of th e cl o sest racing that will be see n any where in Speedway. Steve Bast, on e time U.S . N ational Speedw ay Ch amp a n d c u r re n t th ree-time winner of th e California State Championship, sh owed the fan s what it was all about. Steve ca me to the st arting line for the scratch Main event along with Sonny Nutter, Mike Konle, and Ed Williams. When the starting gate went up, all four got off at the same time into turn one. You could have put a hula hoop over them out of turn tw o , and it still looked like all four we re on on e bike . Turn three and Sonny pulled it d own to the pole fir st to ge t the lead going ou t of four to th e front straigh t, wi th th e o ther three still in a ball. T wo laps down they w ere o n th e b ack straigh t, Nutter wen t too wide an d j us t touched the easily and h e is in th e prime spot to be moved up into a First Division rider und er the new poin ts rule s. Mi ke Curuso j us t p ulled o ff th e w in in fro n t of Ken Car ter in th e H andi cap Main and Ken may fin d himself rid ing in th at firs t Di vision spot all season if h e keep s rid ing as w ell as th at. He is one o f th e second D ivision ride rs who have been mo ved up o n talen t alone. S cra tc h Main even t m on ey went to th e w ild m an hi ms el f , Wild Bill Cody . Living up to h is n am e , h e ran wil d wi th this eve n t. Mi ke Cu ruso and Mik e Bast had a race of their own go ing on wi th Dann y Beck er b ringing up th e rear. T he final nigh t of thi s Sp eed way wee k was a t th e gran d d addy o f all th e Speedway tra cks , Cos ta Mesa, which opened thi s wee k as well. Friday nigh t was the opener for this trac k and , as to be e xpec ted , there was a tumaway crow d . The re are abo ut nine · th ousan d seats a t thi s track an d if y o u didn' t get there b y 7 : 30 you were hardp u t to get in . . Mik e ' Bast rounded o ut a full week of good racing by getting arou nd h is bro the r in the Scratch Main fo r the win. Mik e also be at Steve in th e Match race which wa s the highli ght. There we re tw o match even t s, the second race w as So nny Nu tter over Bill Cody . This event nev er - did co me off a t th e first star t . Sonny looped it on the line and the re was a restart. Then i t was Cody' s turn to get off bu t' h e did it in a bi g w ay, go ing into t u m three h e slid out and h is bike lan de d on th e th ro t tle and turn ed it on full. The bike jumped into the w all an d as it pi cked up speed , it turn ed o ver seve ral tim es ond th en turned uprigh t and st arted b lock d own th e track without Bill. As th e pi ck -up m en . a n d photographers scurried for th e high gro un d, it ran o u t of gas ..nd stopped. Mark Cherry, a new First Division rider, has put to gether a bo od opening week for a first effor t . E e won th e Handicap Consolation and va s in the top tw o spo ts on Wedne ,day and Thursday. T he T u sti n Honda T rop hy w ent to Don Cu llum in th e Handicap Main event . Don h as h ad h is ups and downs all w eek an d th is w as hi s be st ride . I Les Chanky backs it around at Bakersfield . • Handicap Main even t ( the staggered start) found J eff Sexton star ting on the ten yard line holdin g off the ch alle ng es from five o th ers for this, a five lap Main event. Jeff h as made a very fine c om eback a fte r breakin g his back in this sport last ye ar. Cont in u ing o u r lo ok at thi s week in Speed way , let's go back t o t he night be fore , Wednesd ay , t o Ba ke rsf ield . t he seco nd ra ce of th e seas o n with e igh tee n t o go . Aft er w inning th eir Mains at Irwindale, Jeff Sexto n and Jim Castor clutch their awa rds. No one clutches the tro phy girl, the very trick Ms. Meiste r. wall. But th at was all it t akes in a race this ti ght. Bast took over the lead as Sonny cam e off th e wall in secon d pl ace, K onle third an d Williams fourth and that, after two more laps, was th e wa y it finish ed . H ';me town b oy D on T o om ey had hi s best ride eve r in front o f a crowd that w o uld have taken an yone else apart that would thi nk o f bea t ing th eir o wn home-grown talent. Don won the Di visio n Two Main Sonny Nutter d isplay s h is winn ing styl e at Irwinda le.